It List: Monday

Passion Pit | Tokyo Police Club (Palladium)

As some of you may already know in addition to my critical musings here at WSJR I am also an active member in the Friday Night Lights fan fiction community. Most of the time these two sides of the complex coin that is Frank Phosphate rarely crossover, but Passion Pit did make an appearance in a little side story I threw together a couple of months ago. So instead of going into great depth about why I think Passion Pit are lame I will just let the scene play out for you. In case you are somehow unfamiliar with the dynamic and groundbreaking television drama Friday Night Lights let me briefly describe the two characters in the following passage. Matt Saracen is the quarterback with a heart of gold and tough family life, after high school he pursues his dreams of being an artist in Chicago. Julie, Matt's girlfriend AND the coach's daughter, is a smart young girl with a big heart and a good head on her shoulders, she is often ahead of the rest of her classmates in terms of style and the arts. In the following scene Julie has come to visit Matt in Chicago and they are out for a night on the town...

The marquee above the theater pulsates with hallogenic fever as Julie drags a playfully hesitant Matt into the bar. "Why are we goin' to this stupid show anyways?" Matt inquires in his Texas drawl. Julie often dragged Matt to shows that he had no interest in seeing, he was more into things like Led Zepplin and Death Cab for Cutie. Julie insist that Matt will love this band, she read an article about them in Jane magazine and Julie's Habitat for Humanity co-worker Linda said they were the best new band around. As the couple enter the club they are surrounded by hip young twenty somethings swaying back and forth in no particular rhythm to the music. Skinny Jeans, skinnier t-shirts and knit sweaters are all the fashions of the night. Matt's face begins to sour as he pays closer attention to the music coming from the band on stage. Julie points to the stage and exclaims "That's them! That's Passion Pit! I can tell by their beards"

Matt drops his chin to chest and lets out a sigh. "Julie" Matt begins to giggle "You can't tell me that you are going to deny the derivative nature of this bland indie pop rock trite, I mean this is almost as bad as The Postal Service" Julie snarls at Matt as she continues to bob her head to the music, more out of pride than genuine enjoyment. "and these airy synths sound like something from a bad Prince cover band. I mean I understand that this geeky euro sounding indie dance music is all the rage, and don't get me wrong I do dig some of it. Like Hot Chip, that stuff is really good and has an original sound." Matt looks around at the crowd, "How can these people even pretend to dance to this beat? Cut Copy. It sounds like second rate Cut Copy as well."

Even though Julie hates to admit defeat, she realizes that she must fess up to the undeniable truth. "You're right Matt, that is the last time I take music advise from Linda!" They both have a good laugh as they walk out on to the cold Chicago streets. "Oh hey" Matt suddenly interjects "My friend is playing a solo acoustic singer songwriter set at a coffee shop, wanna go to that?" Julie nods as they embrace and skip down the street.

Cold Mold | Marriage Material | Dharma | Shane English (Rubber Gloves)

Really nice line-up here with DJ sets by Shane English. Two acts on this show, Dharma and Cold Mold, that I have not had a chance to catch live yet. I don't know too much about either but Austin's Dharma sound like the love child of Florene and Darktown Strutters while Cold Mold share the dark and jittery guitar/vocal assault similar to Marriage Material. The duo features Anna Wingfield from Colour Club and Bobby Missile from Attractive and Popular.